For the past 150 years, regional postal services have evolved complex networks for delivering mail to recipients. With the advent of computer technology, logistical solutions have been developed and utilized to manage and attempt to optimize the means to deliver the mail. There are many reasons mail experiences delivery delays. One of the reasons for experiencing delays is that the mail piece is not addressed correctly. Consequently, there is a delivery delay in the incorrectly addressed mail piece. Current address correction procedures involve a great deal of human intervention. This intervention is both costly to the mailer and, unfortunately, may be a source of further errors.
Historically, postage meters have been mechanical and electromechanical devices that: maintain, through mechanical or "electronic registers" (postal security devices), an account of all postage printed and the remaining balance of prepaid postage; and print postage postmarks (indicia) that are accepted by the postal service as evidence of the prepayment of postage.
Soon, small business mailers may be able to use their desktop computer and printer to apply postage directly onto envelopes or labels while applying an address. The United States Postal Service Engineering Center recently published a notice of proposed specification that may accomplish the foregoing. The title of the specification is Information--Based Indicia Program Postal Security Device Specification, dated Jun. 13, 1996, herein incorporated by reference. The Information--Based Indicia Program (IBIP) specification includes both proposed specifications for the new indicium and proposed specifications for a postal security device (PSD). The proposed Information--Based Indicia (IBI) consists of a two dimensional bar code containing hundreds of bytes of information about the mail piece and certain human-readable information. The indicium includes a digital signature to preclude the forgery of indicia by unauthorized parties. The postal security device is a security device that produces a cryptographic digital signature for the indicium and performs the function of postage meter registers.
There are approximately one and a half million postage meters in use in the United States. The IBIP is a United States Postal Service initiative supporting the development and implementation of a new form of postal indicia.